Saturday, March 31, 2012

If you are a book worm, this is a tutorial for you. This artful tutorial by Hungry Panda will be sure to bring out the inner librarian in you! For step by step instructions with photography on how to make a book purse visit Hungry Panda's site by clicking here.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

If you are like me and like a glass of wine now and again, you might find your recycling bin a bit weighed down by wine bottles. Don't bother to drag those bottles to the curb, take them out of that bin and make some elegant Wine Bottle Candle Holders.

This great tutorial was developed by Design Sponge and a full list of supplies and instructions can be found by clicking here. These candle holders are chic and clever conversation starters plus they are good for the environment!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Add a little sparkle to your St. Patrick's day with this glitzy shamrock pin by A Fanciful Twist. Living up to the blogs name, Vanessa has put a fanciful twist on the traditional shamrock pin by making the shamrocks from non traditional colors and adding lots of bling. Who needs a pot of gold when you can have a glittery shamrock?

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Get ready crafters! Pile of Craft is coming to Baltimore - June 16th - and we're looking for the best of the best in stitching, printing, painting, cutting, sculpting, stuffing, and crafting toshow their wares!

Applications are officially OPEN! We're only accepting applications for vendor spots from now until April 22nd at midnight - so get them in quick! No late applications will be accepted. CLICK HERE to apply to the show, and be sure to spread the word. It's going to be a great summer here in Baltimore - let's kick it off with a great show!!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Treetalker makes me smile - and think. The artist, Rachel Tree Talker, is a painter primarily. (Well, she is on this site. She also makes wonderful pixie hats and scarves and such on her Talk2theTrees site.)

What I love about her is her style and her willingness to share her gift. She paints amazing images of big-eyed girls or fairies like the one here.

And she also loves to paint nature - seen through her eyes, of course.

Her original artwork can sell for up to $300. But she knows that many of us just want to be surrounded by inspiring and beautiful things but don't have either the budget (or, in my case, the wall space) for those. So she also creates 5x7 and 8x10 prints that sell for much less.

And then she uses the images to create jewelry by encasing her own original artwork in plastic. The pendant shown here is a tiny version of the painting above.

She is generous with her gifts, sharing poetry and stories on her blog. She inspires with paintings like this one, which she describes as being inspired by recent events in her life: "Sometimes life rains down on you, and it seems to rain a lot, but we should never forget that it's the rain that brings the blossoms." Words for us all.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Tis the season for the wearin' o' the green. So get your Irish on by crafting this Shamrock pin by Stitcher Scribbler. Stitcher Scribbler has easy step by step instructions accompanied by photography to help you along. This would be a great tutorial to do with children learning to sew!

Friday, March 9, 2012

The Porkchop Show. That is the name of the shop that I have stumbled upon on Etsy. My whole life I have loved "little things" and now here is a shop that has a ton of just that. These little wooden cut outs can be used for so many different things. My list has already started. Don't you just love when you see something that gets all your rusty wheels a' turning. There is truly something for everyone here who loves to create.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Baltimore's St. Patrick Parade is truly the jewel in Maryland's emerald crown. For more than 50 years, thousands of spectators from the region have crowded the streets and sidewalks of downtown Baltimore and the famous Inner Harbor to watch thousands more march and celebrate Irish culture, music, song, and dance.

The Shamrock 5K race begins at 1:15 p.m. at Charles and Franklin Streets. The Parade steps off at 2:00 p.m. at the Washington Monument, and continues to Pratt Street and Market Place.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

After more than 30 years of directing the sculpture program at Towson University, Jim Paulsen will retire this coming August. Jim was my sculpture professor when I attended what was then called Towson State University. Jim challenged me to grow as an artist and see how 3-D forms and shapes can come to life in different mediums.

The department of art and design at Towson University is featuring a special exhibit: Jim Paulsen Alumni Sculpture Exhibition.Gallery Hours: Tuesday thru Saturday, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. The exhibit runs through March 31, 2012.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Every Sunday, visit the Baltimore Museum of Art for activities the entire family can enjoy! Express your inner artist in a hands-on art-making workshop or enjoy an interactive family gallery tour. 2-5pm. Free.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

I've always thought of cheese as one of those basics that one just doesn't make at home. It's got to be too complicated, need too much specialized equipment, too difficult to get right and I am not, let's face it, a Julia Child or Marcella Hazan. Why did I even decide to try?

I've been going to the farmers markets in Waverly and under the JFX overpass for the last year and become totally addicted to the great, fresh food I find there. There is very delicious cheese but no feta and, more importantly to me, no gibna talega. Gibna (cheese) talega (refrigerator) is a wonderful white cheese that I am obsessed with finding here it the States. It's softer and less tangy than feta but different than goat cheese. I could have lived on it when I resided in Egypt. I haven't even found it at Middle Eastern groceries. I decided to see if I could make it.

Pour 1/2 gallon of milk into a thick-bottomed pot (not really sure if my pot has a thick bottom). Slowly heat to 165 degrees. (I did have to buy a thermometer.)Stir sometimes.Turn off heat. Pour in the juice of 4 small lemons (not quite half a cup)

Let sit for 15 minutes. The milk will start to look strange, kind of lumpy. Put two layers of cheese cloth (I didn't have any of that either) in a strainer or colander over another pot or large bowl. Pour milk into strainer.

Leave it alone for 10 minutes. Dump the watery stuff if it gets too high and cheese won't drain.

Gather the cheese cloth together. Tie something (shoelace?) around it and suspend it so it will continue to drain. I hung it from a cabinet door. You're supposed to tie it to a long spoon and set the spoon across the top of a stock pot. I'm using my stock pot for steaming my scarves.

Leave it for another 50 minutes.

Turn out of the cheese cloth onto a plate or bowl. Mix with some salt (try a quarter teaspoon). You don't have to, but it makes a nice shape if you then press it into a little container. Apparently the flavor is enhanced if you leave it in the fridge overnight. I've not been able to do that yet. Whenever you decide to eat the cheese, turn it onto a plate.

A few observations: This cheese has a slight lemon taste, which I think is nice with the olive oil and spices. I've heard you can make cheese using the whey (that's the watery stuff you threw away). I'm hoping that makes a non-lemon tinged cheese as my son doesn't like lemon. Also, while I think this is an amazingly delicious and EASY (I really can't stress that enough) cheese, it is not gibna talega. My search, my quest, for that particular cheese will continue.

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